Coke's Pay Hurts the Media's Brain

The press falls for a nonsensical critique and misses the chance to learn something.

By

Holman W. Jenkins, Jr.

May 6, 2014 6:43 p.m. ET

Gilda Radner is dead and Emily Litella lives, and it's too bad it's not the reverse.

Emily Litella was the hard-of-hearing "Saturday Night Live" character who would launch an outraged monologue based on a simple misunderstanding and, when corrected, conclude sweetly, "Never mind." Never mind is also the right response to the media-generated controversy over pay practices at Coca-Cola Co. David Winters, a fund manager whose clients own 2.5 million shares, is cast as the hero of the piece for loudly...